Think of Beatrix Potter and most of us associate the beloved children's book illustrator and author with the Lake District.

But delve a little deeper into the life of the creator of Peter Rabbit, Squirrel Nutkin and others and there is a strong link with west Dorset that inspired Beatrix's final published work The Tale of Little Pig Robinson.

Dorset's creative influence along with the inspiration Beatrix gleaned from other counties are celebrated in new book The Art of Beatrix Potter, published to coincide with the year of Beatrix's 150th birthday.

This coffee table book contains famous images and rarely seen gems—ranging from character sketches and notebook pages to watercolour landscapes and natural history illustrations.

In 1905 Beatrix Potter spent a particularly productive holiday staying at the Mariners Hotel in Silver Street, Lyme Regis. She described Broad Street as 'a lovely street'.

Beatrix enjoyed perfect weather and the views from the town's steep streets.

She took Hunca Munca and her hedgehog Mrs. Tiggy-winkle with her on holiday, already considering a hedgehog story while busy with two upcoming titles.

During her time in the seaside town Beatrix did a sketch in sepia ink of a steep street leading down to the sea.

Ever the perfectionist, Beatrix wrote in a letter that it was a lovely street and she would have liked to have done better justice to it.

This charming little sketch became the background drawing for The Tale of Little Pig Robinson.

The idea for Little Pig Robinson was first conceived by Beatrix in Ilfracombe, Devon, in 1883.

The Tale of Little Pig Robinson is the story of a little pig captured by a trade ship who must escape before becoming a special dinner for the crew. Despite containing predominantly black and white line illustrations the story is one of Beatrix's most colourful stories.

Emily Zach, author of The Art of Beatrix Potter, writes: "The clear coastal weather during her stay in Lyme Regis allowed for sketching the town's streets and shops during long walks, perhaps bringing her attention back to the adventures of Pig Robinson, as she eventually used this and several other sketches for the streets of Stymouth."

Lyme Regis became the fictional town of Stymouth in the tale. This was the town where the little pig crossed 'big fields' and 'stiles; stiles with steps; ladder stiles; stiles of wooden posts' as he walked from the town.

Beatrix writes: "The farm of Piggery Porcombe was no longer in sight when he looked back.

"In the distance before him, beyond the farmlands and cliffs - never nay nearer - the dark sea rose like a wall."

Its evocative narrative vividly brings the landscape to life and is thought to be one of the author's most substantial books.

After an 'uneventful' upbringing at Piggery Porcombe farm, Little Pig Robinson's senses are awakened on his journey to Stymouth by 'the dark blue sea', 'great white gulls', 'yellow pussy willow catkins', 'green fields', 'red ploughland', the scent of 'primroses in hundreds on the bank', daisies and buttercups and the 'warm smell of moss and grass and steaming moist red earth'.

Lyme wasn't the only seaside town to provide inspiration for the tale of the travelling pig - Beatrix also drew from the landscape of Falmouth in Cornwall as part of her south coast sojourn that year.

It wasn't until 1930 when the The Tale of Little Pig Robinson was published - it turned out to be Beatrix's final little book inspired by her earliest story.

One of Beatrix's sketches of Broad Street can still be seen in Lyme Regis Museum.

*The Art of Beatrix Potter: Sketches, Paintings, and Illustrations. Text by Emily Zach, foreword by Steven Heller, introduction by Linda Lear and afterword by Eleanor Taylor. Published by Chronicle Books (£25).